The Ridiculous Business Jargon Dictionary: B-words

Do you wonder where your co-workers picked up all the ridiculous things they say? From fresh-faced interns to top management, everyone drops one of these gems occasionally. We can only hope that you're not here to actually add buzzwords to your vocabulary.

B-school [n.]

Business school. "We were tight back in b-school."

Babylonian orgy [n.]

A boring conference out of town. Only applicable if the participant won't enjoy a single minute of the time away. "Tim's off at some Babylonian orgy, so don't expect him back till Monday."Suggested by PJ S.

Back door [adj.]

Unethical or dishonest.

Back-of-the-envelope [adj.]

Anything completed in a quick, casual manner. Most often references informal calculations made by engineering and finance types.

Backburner [v.]

The act of deprioritizing, as if the noun weren't bad enough. "Let's backburner that salary review until your next annual."Suggested by Chris K.

Bacon job [n.]

A project with no shortage of volunteers; a plum position.

Bad paper [n.]

A payment made in worthless currency (cash or check).

Bag of snakes [n.]

A business situation with many unexpected problems.

Bait and switch [v.]

To advertise low priced items that aren't actually available.

Bake-off [n.]

A side-by-side comparison of two products. "Have you done a bake-off between the finalists?"Suggested by Dave B.

Baked cake [n.]

A completed project. "Don't sit there and tell me this cake is fully baked."Suggested by Rob S.

Baked-in [adj.]

Included. "Those options are already baked in with this model."

Ballpark [v.]

To make an estimate. "Can you ballpark the cost per unit for me?"

Balls in the air [exp.]

Number of ongoing tasks. Used when feeling maxed out like a busy juggler. "Let's meet again when I have fewer balls in the air."Suggested by Nobby J.

Band-aid [v.]

To apply a trivial solution to a problem. "We'll band-aid the situation for now."

Bandwidth [n.]

The physical and mental limit of your working ability. "I don't have the bandwidth for another project right now."

Bang for the buck [n.]

The return on invested money.

Bangalored [v.]

Having been fired after your position was transferred to India. "Last month they bangalored our entire tech support department."

Bankroll [v.]

To finance. "We can't afford to bankroll any more high-risk R&D."

Banner year [n.]

The best year in history for a given firm. Most likely, you're not having one of these.

Barnburner [n.]

An exciting situation.

Base-tending [v.]

To guard one's assets.

Baseline [v.]

To establish a minimum standard of knowledge for all employees. "Baseline the procedure and samepage your department."Suggested by Amy K.

Bat a thousand [exp.]

A baseball term meaning a 100% success rate.

Batting average [n.]

The percentage of time that someone or something is successful. "We need to bring up our batting average in the overseas market."

Battle rhythm [n.]

A logistical plan. "We're not leaving this conference room until we lock in a battle rhythm on the project."Suggested by Dan.

Bean-counter [n.]

A derogatory term for an accountant. "The bean-counters are coming in for another audit next week."

Beat the bushes [v.]

Marketing to unconventional or rural areas.

Beauty contest [n.]

A competitive pitching situation. "Bring in the next firm; I wanna wrap up this beauty contest before my 4 o'clock tee off."Suggested by Crazy Renee.

Beef up [v.]

To make stronger.

Behind the eight ball [exp.]

In a difficult position.

Bell [n.]

A phone call. "Give us a bell before you leave work today."Suggested by Vicki D.

Bell ringer [n.]

A door to door salesman.

Belts and suspenders [exp.]

Proceeding with an overabundance of caution. "Make sure we're belts and suspenders before those quotes go out."Suggested by Crazy Renee.

Bespoke [adj.]

Custom or made-to-order. If you're not making a suit, I don't want to hear you say this word. "We deliver a truly bespoke accounting experience."

Best endeavors [n.]

A promise of effort, but not results. "…now let me assure you that we're pushing forward, best endeavors."Suggested by Rockett Man

Best in breed [adj.]

A claim of superior quality relative to the competition. "Go with us and you're going best in breed."

Best practices [n.]

Procedures and policies that have shown to be the most effective.

Betamaxed [adj.]

When a product has been overtaken by an inferior, but well marketed alternative.

Bifurcate [v.]

An overly complex word that HR uses when splitting your position into two separate jobs. Feel free to reapply for either of them.Suggested by JPT

Big enchilada [n.]

An important person within an organization.

Big learn [n.]

The process of gaining skills that are difficult to master. "We know things didn't go well, but you have to remember that it's been a big learn for all of us."Suggested by Russell H.

Binary answer [n.]

A yes or no response. "Stop dancing around the question and give me a binary answer."Suggested by JP.

Bio break [n.]

A short pause during a meeting to give participants a chance to use the restroom. Suggestion: Just say, "Let's take a ten minute break." I don't need to think about why Joan is getting squirmy.Suggested by bk

To meet and discuss an issue before assigning tasks. "We'll birdtable the new schedule tomorrow."Suggested by Steve S.

Black box [n.]

New and unfamiliar technology about which uninformed decisions are often made.

Black sky thinking [n.]

One step beyond blue sky thinking. For those who will not abide any limitations on their flights of fancy.Suggested by Mark.

Blackberry Heisman [n.]

A dismissive gesture typically performed by pompous executives. The subject fields a call in one hand while holding up the symbolic "stiff arm" with the other.

Blamestorming [v.]

Meeting to discuss a failure and find a scapegoat.

Blast of leadership [n.]

When a company that prides itself on employee self-esteem and a non-threatening PC atmosphere must urgently adopt an authoritarian leadership style. "You coddled the union and grievances doubled... it's time for me to step in and deliver a blast of leadership."Suggested by Chris K.

Bleed [v.]

To extract a large sum of money from an organization or individual.

Bleeding-edge [adj.]

Something even more current than the 'cutting-edge'. Reserved for only the most novel (or hyped) technologies.

Blessed [adj.]

Approved and supported by company leadership. "Don't commit another dollar till this is blessed by the corner office."

Bloatation [v.]

Filling non-essential positions instead of core staff. Usually occurs just before bankruptcy.

Bloombergsmanship [n.]

The art of using Bloomberg's signature financial news terminal so well that it makes up for a total lack of experience in finance.

Blow by blow [exp.]

To cover every single detail when giving a report.

Blow hot and cold [v.]

To frequently change one's mind.

Blow-in [n.]

Advertising materials inserted between the pages of a magazine that you'll spend 10 minutes removing before it's readable.

Blue hairs [exp.]

A derogatory term for a female seniors.

Blue money [n.]

Funds spent quickly and recklessly.Suggested by Yuri

Blue ocean [n.]

A metaphor for the wider and deeper potential of a market that is not yet explored. "I look at the sales opportunities in front of you clowns, and all I see is blue, blue ocean."Suggested by Indranil.

Blue-ocean opportunity [n.]

A promising option that might not be foreseen by the competition. "Blue-ocean opportunity baby, we're talking uncharted waters here."Suggested by Jeremy.

Blue-sky thinking [n.]

A thought exercise where any possibility is considered.Suggested by Patti

BOHICA [exp.]

Bend Over Here It Comes Again.

Boiler room [n.]

A sales firm with questionable practices.

Boilerplate [n.]

Standard legal wording used company or industry-wide. Since no one really reads it, this is a great place to be sneaky.

Boiling the frog [v.]

The art of managing change so smoothly that it goes unnoticed. From the overused, possibly bogus cliché claiming that frogs will jump directly out of boiling water, but will happily perish when heated slowly.Suggested by Jeff I.

Boiling the ocean [v.]

Attempting to do something with too broad a scope. This is generally in reference to a project or initiative to avoid. "The client is living a pipe dream; when are they going to stop trying to boil the ocean?"Suggested by w3.

Book the goods [v.]

A really slick way of saying 'place an order.' "Make sure you book the goods before you take off this afternoon."

Boondoggle [n.]

An unethical use of public money.

Boot camp [n.]

A company training program.

Boots on the ground [n.]

An overly dramatic way to refer to employees sent to work at an off-site location.

Bootstrap [v.]

To start a company with little capital and no outside investment.

Bottom fishing [v.]

Purchasing stocks that have a very low value.

Bottom line it [exp.]

To summarize. "I don't have time to read your progress report. Can you bottom line it for me?"Suggested by Linda

Bounce [v.]

To be removed forcefully, fired.

Bouncebackability [n.]

The ability to reverse a losing situation and then succeed.Suggested by Paul G.

Bow wave [n.]

The initial effects caused by upper management changes. "The bow wave might hit them a little hard, but they'll get past it."Suggested by Guy from Melbourne.

Brain dump [v.]

To extract the knowledge of an expert employee for the benefit of others.

Brand terrorist [n.]

An employee who is undermining the organization.

Brandatories [n.]

All of the branding elements that must be included in a given ad or campaign. "Make sure the brandatories are in place before the shoot begins."Suggested by Andy B.

Brass tacks [n.]

1) Fundamental business information or practices. "We need to scale back R & D and get back to brass tacks."2) The raw material required for a company's core products.Suggested by Pulkit B.

Breadcrumbing [v.]

Sweeping up multiple odd jobs into one single position. Fulfillment and respect not guaranteed.Suggested by Andy W.

Break bread [v.]

1) To share profits or wealth with another. "If you're not willing to break bread on this, we walk."
2) To hold a meeting with an informal and friendly tone (and maybe food). "Let's break bread this afternoon and lock it down."Suggested by Chris B.

Break your crayons [exp.]

To harm or insult another person. "I don't mean to break your crayons, but your performance has been terrible lately."

Brick and mortar [adj.]

A business with a physical location and building, as opposed to the basements and garages that most online retailers ship from.

Bricks-to-clicks [exp.]

When a traditional company realizes that a website is necessary to stay competitive.

Bring to the table [exp.]

The contribution (or lack thereof) that one makes to a group. "What do you feel you would bring to the table if you were hired for this position?"

Bronx cheer [n.]

A loud sound expressing dislike, made by sticking out your tongue and blowing; a raspberry.

Brown-bag [v.]

To discuss a topic at a later time, over lunch. "Let's brown-bag your idea and get this meeting back on track.Suggested by Ben.

Bubble it up [v.]

To send an issue to the next-higher level of management. "I've noted your concern and I'll bubble it up by the end of the week."Suggested by Charley O.

Bucket shop [n.]

A place where questionable deals occur.

Bucketize [v.]

To organize information into logical groups. "Let's take a moment to bucketize our ideas."Suggested by Mo.

Build [n.]

Borrowed from software types, this term has been heard referencing a revision or addition to a piece of text. "Still working on that report? Make sure I have the latest build by this afternoon."Suggested by Q.

Bullish [adj.]

To be in favor of. "I'm feeling bullish about this new product."

Burn grass [v.]

To sit down as a group and discuss. May reference assumed Native American culture. "Make sure you burn grass with the engineering before tomorrow."Suggested by Eric.

Burn rate [n.]

The speed at which cash is being used up in a given company or project. "We gotta get our burn rate under control, time to let a few go."

Burn the boats [v.]

Total commitment to an action that can't be undone. "This 11th-hour financing gives us one final burn-the-boats shot at it."Suggested by Dean H.

Bush league [adj.]

A baseball reference describing anything amateurish or unprofessional. "That bush league secretary hung up on our biggest client while putting him on hold."

Business-end [n.]

The part of an object that performs an action. "I looked up from my desk and found myself staring down the business-end of a 9 millimeter."

Business-macho [adj.]

Describes a male office worker with his shirt opened too far at the neck—at least one button beyond what could be considered business casual. Often accented with tufts of chest hair or gold chains.Suggested by David R.

Business-provocative [adj.]

Work attire that is sexy to the point of being inappropriate. "I see that Kim has decided that the dress code for today is business-provocative."

Buy-in [exp.]

To agree with a particular position. "How can we get management buy-in on this idea?"

Buzz [n.]

Excited discussion in the media and between individuals. Closely linked to word-of-mouth advertising.

Buzzworthy [adj.]

A novel idea or product that has the potential to generate public interest in its own right. "These proposals are all terrible. Why can't you morons come up with something buzzworthy?"